Defence says some breast ops are needed
Sunday Sep 16 14:14 AEST
The Australian Defence Force has denied paying for breast enlargements so that female sailors could look sexy and said taxpayers only footed the bill if the surgery was needed for psychological reasons.
The navy paid $10,000 each for the sailors, aged 25 and 32, to have cosmetic breast enlargements, News Limited newspapers have reported.
Plastic surgeon Kourosh Tavakoli, who performed the operations, said the sailors claimed the breast enlargements were necessary for mental health reasons.
"I've had two female navy officers who've got the navy to pay for breast augmentation for psychological reasons," he said.
"I know for a fact the two patients claimed it back on the navy.
"They know it was breast augmentation and they (the navy) pay for it.
"There's no breast augmentation that I know of for medical purposes."
Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said operations purely for aesthetics were against policy but were allowed in some cases for psychological reasons.
"The suggestion that taxpayers are funding breast operations for defence personnel to look sexy is not only wrong but insulting to the dedicated people who serve in our defence force," Brigadier Nikolic said.
"Where there are medical or dental reasons for a procedure or compelling psychological/psychiatric reasons that may result in a member being classified unfit to deploy on medical or psychological grounds, then we will certainly consider their needs in accordance with our policy."
A spokesman for Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said statistics relating to defence personnel who had operations for cosmetic reasons were unavailable until next week.
Opposition defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said Labor would this week ask the government in parliament for details about the cases.
"On the face of it, taxpayer-funded breast enhancement is a questionable practice that comes right out of left field and I have to say smacks of the government out of touch," Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC Radio.
"We will ask some questions in the parliament in the coming week to see whether we can determine the real reasons behind the cases and determine, therefore, whether it's an appropriate practice."
Shows you the US army doesn't have a monopoly over stupidity
